Anyone in their 50s and decided against Botox, fillers or anything but face cream?

[Tabbouleh]

I just wondered, prompted by the many recent threads. And not because you can't afford it either. I can afford them but have decided to age naturally for various reasons.

Feeling a little lonely though!

@AllJustATrialOfErrors

have you tried Clinique Super City Block.
Its SPF40 and just feels like a moisturiser.
no spots!

Thought about it but looking at rich celebs and how their faces have ended up, I’m giving it a miss. If they’ve got unlimited money and still look a mess, then what hope is there for me?

@TheGetaway Yes. Have used that for a while. Recently bought, as in Italy and the formula has changed. Now, it’s SPF50 but doesn’t agree with me.
Currently using Thank You Farmer spf50

Early fifties. Nothing done, except microbladed eyebrows. Made a huge difference to my face.

I find it really sad that younger women feel obliged to have interventions in order to conform or fit in or whatever.
I am 68, have never had any fillers etc and flatly refuse to be pressured into doing so.
I wonder just what they’ll look like in their 80’s? It’s bad enough seeing sagging, wrinkled tattoos, football boobs and mahogany tans on older women on holiday last year.

This is Eva Fraser, at 82. There is a lot of blather from the host, but at various points she demonstrates 4 facial exercises.

"People think it's the skin, but your skin is attached to the muscle. So as the muscle starts to sag, it brings your skin down with it." Eva Fraser.

@CuriousMama Am up at this ungodly hour with the dog… she’s not well!

Ive tried the Nivea Sensitive Face SPF 50. Fine for a few days then spots at jawline and down my neck. I have used spf in face moisturisers but people do say, they’re not enough; maybe on a grey day in January but not in spring/summer.

I’m glad it’s gone cooler and not as sunny.

Yes she's amazing. I used to do her exercises when I didn't need to. She says start young from what I remember? I might start again? I sometimes do the cheekbones one.

God would the host just shut up and let Eva speak!
But besides that there is some sense isn't there in what she does. Plus of course she looks neat and fit and you g in her move tabs and voice - showing that it isn't just about your face. I know plenty of women my age who move like older women. Looking younger os the whole package isn't it?

This is perfection and I heartily second it. I want to look like a fabulous 54, not a wannabe 34.

I think your last sentence says it all - it’s about the whole person, both mentally and physically.

The women in their fifties who come across as the youngest to me are those who are vibrant and living a full life with lots of interests. It’s the women who are happy in their career/job, are really into their swimming, theatre, art group or whatever. The women who are trying new things and have an obvious zest for life. And who are still physically active in some way.

By contrast the fifty something women I know who come across as ‘old’ to me are generally those who have stopped working and have quite a ‘predictable’ life, for want of a better word.

So to me Botox and fillers seem almost irrelevant to age - give me a grey haired wrinkly fifty something woman with passions, interests and a full life, over a smooth faced fifty something focused on achieving a young face any day!

@BuenaVistaAntisocialClub , can I ask how old you are? It’s easy when you are younger to state that wrinkles and grey hair in the over 50 is lovely. 50 probably feels far away. Personally I have found it very difficult to age. This happened once I hit 50 and my face started to change. I have never been particularly vain I don’t think and was surprised by my own reaction. I thought I would have found it easier. I started to develop a bit of a jowly look with marionette lines. I don’t think it was the looking older, it was the looking different if that makes sense. I also work in a very young environment. Maybe it would have been easier if I was always surrounded by people my own age. I had fillers which probably made me look a bit younger, but more importantly made me look like myself without the droopy bit. It restored my confidence as I felt I had my face back. I don’t look odd or like I am trying to look younger. If you saw me in the street you would not see that I had fillers. I wear jeans and t shirt, no make up, sometimes forget to brush my hair…. Quite low maintenance. I think I look good. I get a lot of attention from men even though I am 50 and to be honest I like that too. I don’t want to fade into the background yet.

Fillets are in a whole different league from Botox. Botox, used sparingly, just reduces wrinkles and helps prevent more. Fillers actually change the shape of your face. Fillers are IMO a much bigger intervention than Botox. They're barely comparable.

I think she said 30 onwards is a good time. But she says it's never too late to start. She started doing it a bit at 55, but didn't really get into it until she was 60.

Botox, used sparingly, just reduces wrinkles and helps prevent more

Does it? It's been around for decades now, yet I'm not seeing any magically wrinkle-less older women. Obviously it reduces wrinkles while you keep using it, but there is no evidence that it has any long-term effect. Even clinics flogging the stuff admit that it doesn't prevent wrinkles forming.

May I answer this as I am in my early 50s? I do not think wrinkles are beautiful. It's just that I prefer them to the alternative.

My mum is 76 , and one of those women with a full life. She began learning a musical instrument at 74, gardens, travels, and has many friends. She barely has time to look in the mirror and notice the wrinkles.

I myself work in a male dominated field and you are right, I don't get male attention any more. But I do get respect and attention for my work. That's enough for me.

@FaceFullofFillers I’m mid forties, so younger then fifties, but really not that young. And yes, your point about getting to your fifties and feeling you don’t look like yourself is a good one, rather than just trying to look younger per se. I guess never say never - maybe in ten years my views will be different!

I'm 51 and use various serums and creams but wouldn't use cosmetic surgery, as afraid of looking false. My skin isn't too bad but think it's because I'm not too thin ( size 12/14), so my face looks plump. I think if I lost weight at this age , my face would drop!

@BuenaVistaAntisocialClub , If someone had told me I would have botox when I was 45 and even 48, I would have laughed. I didn’t even know what fillers were. My face aged overnight more or less partly due to bereavement and weight loss linked to bereavement. I think the fact that the changes and ageing happened so quickly coupled with some other changes in my life made it more difficult for me. My point is just that I am not just wanting to look 25 again. It’s a bit more complicated than that.

I think celebs like Madonna and Kylie M often end up looking bad and too “done” because they want to erase all signs of ageing. I think most women just want to soften the signs a bit.

Look, the world is full of ageism, especially if you are a woman and, if Botox/fillers get you through, that's fine. You're not obliged to fight a personal crusade against stereotyping by 'ageing naturally' - whatever the fuck that means, given that most of us would have been dead by 40, if nature had been allowed to take its course.

Would it be a better world if no one was judged on their age or appearance? Yes. Are we anywhere near realising that world? No.

I totally get what @FaceFullofFillers is saying. I aged 5+ years practically overnight in my 30s, following a bereavement, and I didn't feel like me.

I CBA to get Botox/fillers, because I'm lazy and tight. But, of all the things to judge other women (or men!) about, this is one of the most ridiculous. Everyone should just do what helps them to feel good about themselves.

I completely agree @MissLucyEyelesbarrow

The thing I get angry about isn’t individual women’s choices about doing whatever they like to their faces. It’s about a society that makes women feel the need to obliterate every sign of age as if ageing is shameful. A society that’s made youth a deity at whose altar we feel obliged to worship.

It’s about women becoming invisible as they get older, all the derogatory terms applied to women all prefaced by “old”. Old bag, old trout.

Every woman in the public eye is pressurised to fight back the years and that trickles down to the rest of us. How many women would make the choice to have stuff injected into her face if society wasn’t telling her age is ugly? Unfortunately we can’t even get the message through to our daughters’ generation as evidenced by all the lip fillers to be seen on really young women. It makes me sad.

Absolutely @Blossomtoes
Also It's no wonder there's a mental health crisis further down the age groups if their mothers' generation is showing the way by showing the way and submitting to those pressures. I haven't been a perfect mother by any means but at least I've tried to show DD that it's ok to be yourself.

There are a million threads on how to get Botox and fillers. I feel like there can be one for 50 something women who are not getting it.

To be fair, on every thread for women with Botox, there are always contributors from women who come and tell us how crap we look.

Me. I'm 50, obsessed with skin care after having acne through my teens.
I could afford Botox but those who I know that do have it look waxy or even more wrinkly when it wears off.
I like my lines ( I don't have deep wrinkles thanks to oily skin and always wearing a spf30 on my face)
Never say never but at the moment no plans to start injectables.